Resisting Through Anglophilia: Subversion and Critique in Nirad C. Chaudhuri's Engagement with Colonial Discourse

Abstract

This paper interrogates the enigmatic postcolonial subjectivity of Nirad C. Chaudhuri, whose literary oeuvre resists facile categorizations of colonial mimicry or Anglophilic complicity. By engaging with Elleke Boehmer's critical framework—centered on notions of "colonial complicity," "cultured hybridity," and the performative dynamics of language—this study reconceptualizes Chaudhuri's works as a sophisticated site of subversion and resistance within colonial and postcolonial discourses. Chaudhuri’s texts, such as The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian and The Continent of Circe, subvert dominant paradigms by deploying a dual-voiced strategy that simultaneously appropriates and destabilizes colonial narratives. The paper argues that his apparent reverence for British culture constitutes a form of subversive mimicry, a nuanced negotiation that disrupts both the colonial authority and postcolonial nationalist orthodoxies. Through intertextual dialogue with other key theorists, such as Homi K. Bhabha's concept of mimicry, Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism, and Gayatri Spivak's articulation of the subaltern voice, this study reveals how Chaudhuri reclaims the linguistic and cultural tools of the colonizer as a means of reinscribing a complex, bifurcated identity. Ultimately, Chaudhuri's writings emerge as a critical discourse that interrogates and redefines the cultural and intellectual legacies of colonialism and the intricate processes of postcolonial identity formation.